Hawaii schools struggle to keep new teachers WAIANAE, Hawaii (AP) — Jonathan Sager was an idealistic 22-year-old recent college graduate when he arrived in Hawaii in 2006, yearning to make a difference in the lives of children in hardscrabble neighborhoods like those on the Waianae Coast. About an hour’s drive from bustling Honolulu, the stretch of unspoiled beaches and looming mountains is home to a high concentration of Native Hawaiians and some of the state’s lowest-performing schools...

Obama signs student loan deal, says job isn’t done WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama signed into law Friday a measure restoring lower interest rates for student loans, pledging the hard-fought compromise would be just the first step in a broader, concerted fight to rein in the costs of a college education. Encircled by lawmakers from both parties in the Oval Office, Obama praised Democrats and Republicans alike for agreeing — finally — on what he called a sensible, reasonable approach t...

Mystery of Texas grave next to Oswald’s solved NEW YORK (AP) — For years, curiosity seekers visiting the Fort Worth, Texas, grave of Lee Harvey Oswald have wondered about the simple headstone next door, marked Nick Beef. It turns out Nick Beef is alive and living in New York. The New York Times reports (http://nyti.ms/19j8jyq ) that the 56-year-old man who uses that name purchased the cemetery plot next to Oswald’s in 1975 and had the granite marker placed there in 1997. Beef, born Patric ...

Postal Service had $740 million third-quarter loss WASHINGTON (AP) — The Postal Service said Friday that it trimmed its losses to $740 million over the last three months by consolidating processing facilities, cutting hours for workers and post offices and reducing workers’ compensation costs. Still, year-to-date, the Postal Service had losses totaling $3.9 billion, and the agency said that without help from Congress its financial woes will worsen. The report for the financial quarter ending J...

Reality and the real world, ‘Mountain Man’ style TRIPLETT, N.C. (AP) — The way Eustace Conway sees it, there’s the natural world, as exemplified by his Turtle Island Preserve in the Blue Ridge Mountains. And then there’s the “plastic, imitation” one that most other humans inhabit. But the border between the two has always been a porous one. When he bought his first 107 acres in 1987, Conway’s vision for Turtle Island was as “a tiny bowl in the earth, intact and natural, surrounded by pavemen...

Obama: Progress made on disability claims backlog ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — President Barack Obama assured disabled veterans Saturday that his administration is making progress on reducing a backlog of disability claims and said the number of requests for assistance has fallen by nearly one-fifth since peaking at more than 600,000 just a few months ago. In an address at the Disabled American Veterans’ convention in Orlando, Obama also announced a national plan to guide mental health research, as w...

Pilot in deadly Conn. wreck survived earlier crash HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — The plane accident that killed four people in a Connecticut neighborhood was not the first crash for the pilot, a former Microsoft executive who was taking his teenage son on a tour of East Coast colleges. The pilot, Bill Henningsgaard, was presumed killed along with his son, Maxwell, and two children who were inside a house struck by the small propeller-driven plane on Friday. Four bodies were recovered from the wreckag...

Virginia boy’s death puts focus on celebratory gunshots MIDLOTHIAN, Va. (AP) — When a stray bullet pierced the top of Brendon Mackey’s head, the 7-year-old was on his way to a July Fourth fireworks celebration with his dad and other family members. He died the next day in a Richmond hospital, a bullet lodged at the base of his skull, sparking a methodical, door-to-door search for a most elusive killer: celebratory gunfire. Police believe someone fired a shot into the air within a 5,200-foot radius ...

NTSB: Likely 4-6 dead after plane crashes in Conn. EAST HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — A small plane crashed in a working-class neighborhood near an airport on Friday and engulfed two houses in flames, likely killing four to six people, authorities said. The multi-engine, propeller-driven plane struck the small homes a few blocks from Tweed New Haven Airport as it went in for a landing. National Transportation Safety Board investigator Robert Gretz said Friday night there were casualty reports of two or ...

Florida man accused of killing wife, posting photo SOUTH MIAMI, Fla. (AP) — A South Florida man who authorities say fatally shot his wife — and apparently then posted a photo of her body on Facebook — has been charged with first-degree murder. Police said in an arrest affidavit Thursday that 31-year-old Derek Medina says he shot 26-year-old Jennifer Alfonso several times at their South Miami home after she punched him repeatedly and wielded a knife He tells police that he had armed himself wit...

US jobless claims at 6-year low, but hiring lags WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans who have a job may take comfort in knowing that companies are laying off fewer people than at any time since before the Great Recession. The government said Thursday that weekly applications for U.S. unemployment benefits have averaged 335,500 over the past month. That’s the lowest level since November 2007, which was one month before the recession began. But while most companies have stopped cutting jobs, many rema...

Fort Hood trial resumes as lawyers demand removal FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) — The soldier on trial for the 2009 shooting rampage at Fort Hood was allowed to continue representing himself on Thursday after the judge ordered his standby attorneys to stay on as advisers, despite their claims that the Army psychiatrist was trying to secure his own death sentence. The military lawyers ordered to help Maj. Nidal Hasan had asked the judge to either scale back their advisory duties or allow them to take ...

Senate control hinges on fate of Southern Dems WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans are counting on some Southern comfort to win Senate control next year. The fate of Democratic incumbents in GOP-trending Arkansas, Louisiana and North Carolina, the ability of the 71-year-old GOP leader to hold his Kentucky seat and the eventual outcome of a Georgia primary will help decide whether Republicans gain the six seats necessary to grab power in the Senate for the final two years of Barack Obama’s presid...

Search expands for suspect and missing Calif. teen LAKESIDE, Calif. (AP) — A man suspected of abducting a 16-year-old girl after setting his house ablaze with the girl’s mother and possibly her younger brother inside may have booby-trapped his car with homemade explosives, police said Thursday as a search expanded to four states, Mexico and Canada. Meanwhile, police said an “unusual infatuation” with the teenager might have driven suspect James Lee DiMaggio, 40, to flee with her from his burne...

Palestinians complain to Kerry about settlements WASHINGTON (AP) — The second round of U.S.-brokered Mideast peace talks will be held next week, the State Department said Thursday, even as the Palestinians protested new Israeli settlement activity. In a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry, the chief Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat, said Israel’s latest settlement announcements were an indication of “Israel’s bad faith and lack of seriousness” in the talks. The letter was sent Thursda...

California wildfire destroys at least 10 homes BEAUMONT, Calif. (AP) — A rapidly spreading wildfire chewed through a rugged Southern California mountain range on Thursday, destroying at least 10 homes, threatening more than 500 other residences and forcing some 1,500 people to flee. Five people were injured, while more than 1,000 firefighters, 13 helicopters and six air tankers battled the flames as they pushed eastward along the San Jacinto Mountains, a desert range 90 miles east of Los A...

Minn. dad claims third of $448M Powerball jackpot ROSEVILLE, Minn. (AP) — A Minnesota man claimed his third of a $448 million Powerball jackpot on Thursday, wasting no time before revealing his good fortune to the world and saying he had “been waiting for this day my entire life.” Paul White, 45, a project engineer from Ham Lake, said his family often gave him a hard time for frequently playing the lottery, and he had a tough time convincing many of them that he had finally won. “The only per...

NOAA trims forecast for busy hurricane season WASHINGTON (AP) — This Atlantic hurricane season may not be quite as busy as federal forecasters once thought, but they still warn of an unusually active and potentially dangerous few months to come. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration updated its hurricane season forecast Thursday, trimming back the number of hurricanes they expect this year to between six and nine. That’s a couple less than they predicted back in May. The for...

Retailers see slow start to back-to-school season NEW YORK (AP) — Shoppers are holding off on back-to-school shopping, and those who delay long enough might be rewarded with some steep discounts from desperate retailers. Revenue at stores open at least a year — an industry measure of a retailer’s health— rose 3.5 percent in July, the slowest pace since March, according to a tally of 11 retailers by the International Council of Shopping Centers. The figure, which excludes drugstores, was below...

US messaging mess in Egypt complicates diplomacy WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration’s efforts to promote democracy in Egypt are being complicated by what many Egyptians see as mixed and confusing messages coming from Washington, exacerbating already high anti-American sentiment and threatening broader U.S. goals in the region. Any administration might find it difficult to safely navigate the intricacies of Egypt’s current political tumult, but some U.S. officials concede they have be...